Loving Canada

Today is Canada Day - a day for Canadians to take pride in who and what they are.

Of course, the kind of self-loathing pundits that populate such rags as the National Post will tell you that "Canadian pride" essentially constitutes anti-Americanism (in part because of course they believe there is nothing to actually be proud of.)

I would actually defend the anti-American strain that runs through Canadian nationalism. This anti-American strain is not a hatred of Americans or their country. It is simply a reflection of an important part of Canada's history. English Canada was primarily founded by Americans loyal to the crown fleeing the nascent American state. They had an alternate vision of an America, and the Canadian federation in large part reflects that vision. We retain important links, both legal and traditional, to the British crown. Our country was negotiated into existence. And because we are an alternate vision of America, we are far fewer in number than those who hold the grand vision to the south of us.

But my pride in Canada goes beyond this contra-American streak I've just described. I am proud to be Canadian because everywhere I have gone in this great land, I have seen incredible beauty. I have seen the Broughton archipelago between the mainland and Vancouver Island. I have seen Nanaimo. I've driven the Cabot trail. I've seen the St. Lawrence where it flares so wide you can't see the other side, and where the belugas swim. I've seen the shores of the Great Lakes, which in any smaller a country would be counted as seas. I have seen the vast flatlands of the prairies, which lets you see the skies as big as they really are. I've lived much of my life in the forests and lakelands of the Ottawa Valley, where many people still speak with a slight Scottish lilt, and where the sun sets on the Rideau system lakes in a way that assures you God is near. I have, from the air, seen the great rivers that run through the Rocky Mountains like runoff from the eavestroughing.

I am proud of a place where so many imported cultures thrive with the vibrancy of their original homes. There are whole neighbourhoods in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa where Karachi is recreated, or Hong Kong, or Milan. We may have the richest culture of any country anywhere, because all cultures converge in this place.

I love Canada. National Post columnists may loathe Canada and wish it was something else.

But I don't.